Lets start with the basic System.Diagnostics.Process.Start() method
It is simply a method call with conventional DOS space-seperated parametrs. For example in C#:
System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("MyImageProgram.bat", @"MyFile -g -r MyLastParam");
The first parameter is the program you want to run and the second parameter is a space-seperated list of parameter(s) to pass to the program.
Process.Start() waits forever for the process to execute. This could make your web site non-responsive.
System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo gives you much more control to accomplish the same thing. For example, you could control the maximum amount of time to wait for the process completion.
Lets look at an example:
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.IO;
public void Main()
{
SyncCall(@"C:\MyWebSites\Images\MyImageProgram.bat", @"MyFile -g -r MyLAstParam");
}
private void SyncCall(string strProgramName, string syncParam)
{
System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo psi = new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo(strProgramName);
// store your parameters
psi.Arguments = syncParam;< /FONT >
psi.UseShellExecute = false;< /FONT > // Specify for proper execution
System.Diagnostics.Process listFiles;
listFiles = System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(psi);< /FONT >
// optional for debugging. Grab the program console output
//System.IO.StreamReader myOutput = listFiles.StandardOutput;
// Wait a Maximum of 5000 milliseconds (5 seconds ) for the program execution.
listFiles.WaitForExit(5000);
// optional for debugging. Grab the program console output
/* string output;
if (listFiles.HasExited)
{
output = myOutput.ReadToEnd();
}
*/
}
Above, you specify the maximum amount to wait with the WaitForExit() method. If your program finishes faster than the amount of time you specified the system will not wait any longer and execution proceeds to the next line
(Also if your program outputs to the console you could grab the text using System.IO.StreamReader. Grabbing the text slows down execution. So it is only recommended for debugging.)
Above, after the image file is generated in real-time you could refer to it using an
Copyright @ Isaac Levy, Los Angeles, CA
